As this is Presidents’ Day 2026, what better way to mark the holiday than by drawing inspiration from the words of the greatest and wisest patriots to hold the highest office in our Republic?
This holiday was originally a combination of the older holidays marking the birthdays of our two greatest U.S. presidents — George Washington and Abraham Lincoln — on Feb. 22 and Feb. 12, respectively. The federal government chooses a Monday each year between the two birthdates to be Presidents’ Day. Therefore, this holiday always primarily honors Washington and Lincoln.
But I think it is appropriate also to recognize the achievements and advice of several other admirable, history-shaping presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, John Quincy Adams, and Ronald Reagan.
Humorous interlude: If you would like a funny movie scene to watch in honor of this holiday, check out the Washington’s Birthday routine from Holiday Inn starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Marjorie Reynolds (incidentally, no matter what modern cynics say, the story of Washington and the cherry tree came from one of his childhood neighbors who said she heard the story from Washington’s father).
Any Presidents’ Day tribute must begin with the very first president, never yet surpassed, and the father of our country, George Washington. One of his warnings in his 1796 “Farewell Address” was against prioritizing state or local prejudices over the good of our entire nation (if only Democrats had heeded that before launching a Civil War). Another warning of his was that without strong religion and morality, America would fail:
Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations…In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations…But the Constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all…
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.
Related: When Lincoln Said He Would Suffer Assassination in the Cause of Liberty
Next, we turn to our 16th president, Lincoln, the man who prevented America from falling apart less than a century into its history and who ended slavery to bring us closer to fulfilling our founding ideals. Years before he became president, in 1838, Lincoln cautioned his fellow countrymen that our greatest danger will always be from within, that the domestic enemy to freedom is much more to be feared than any foreign tyrant:
Below is a clip from Walt Disney’s animatronic Lincoln delivering the above remarks:Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! — All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
Thirdly, we look for inspiration to U.S. Grant, the man who saved the Union and became the greatest civil rights president in American history. Grant had been a Democrat and a slaveowner, but the Civil War, with its slaughter and Confederate war crimes, changed his thinking forever, and as a Republican, he became a staunch advocate of civil rights, working to extend the freedoms of our founding documents to all men.
“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's [line] but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other,” Grant predicted in an 1875 address that now seems prophetic of the Democrat Party’s continuing cultural civil war. “Now, …I believe it a good time to begin the work of strengthening the foundation of the house commenced by our patriotic forefathers one hundred years ago at Concord and Lexington. Let us all labor to add all needful guarantees for the more perfect security of free thought, free speech and a free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments and of equal rights and privileges to all men, irrespective of nationality, color or religion.” His call is still applicable today.
A much-under-appreciated president is John Quincy Adams, the great abolitionist who stood against corrupt, dishonest Democrat Andrew Jackson. Adams paid personally for many Americans’ determination to vote for profit or power over principle, but preserved his own integrity. Therefore Adams gave this excellent piece of advice: “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”
Last, but certainly not least, we applaud Ronald Reagan, the president who took down the Soviet Union and brought morning again to America after the crisis of the Jimmy Carter administration. We should take heart from his observation, “Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.”
Happy Presidents’ Day!
